Southampton's impressive progress shows no sign of slowing after goals from
Adam Lallana – who reinforced his England claims – and Jay Rodriguez, backed
by a fifth clean sheet of the campaign.

The performance prompted manager Mauricio Pochettino to concede that his players would have to rapidly acclimatise to the growing pressures and expectations of a side positioned close to the head of the table

Had Swansea City made more of a succession of chances immediately before half-time, Southampton's bubble may have been burst. Instead, two assured finishes, backed up by three fine saves from Artur Boruc and a timely intervention by Pochettino to reshape his side early in the second half, ensured ambition at St Mary’s continues to grow.

“We need to understand the higher we are in the table, the more pressure our players are going to have; a lot more is going to be expected of our players and that’s what we’re going to work on in the international week,” Pochettino said. “The players need to be a lot more self-demanding, very ambitious and learn how to withstand the great expectation that is being placed on them. I always look forward to this sort of pressure. It’s what I thrive on and what I relish.”

Lallana, the Southampton captain, opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a powerful angled shot to cap a period of home pressure and strengthen the midfielder’s hopes of a second England call-up having been included in Roy Hodgson’s squad 13 months ago.

“It’s not my decision in the end, but if he keeps performing as he did today he’ll be actually very close to getting that call up to the national side,” Pochettino said.

Up to that point Swansea had looked disjointed and uncertain but they grew into the game, going on to dominate the final 15 minutes of the half yet failing to gain tangible reward. Michu and Wilfried Bony both directed headers too close to Boruc while Natan Dyer fired a left-foot shot against the inside of the post. The misses proved costly and Swansea’s Michael Laudrup, who insisted his side showed no signs of fatigue in their seventh game in 20 days, admitted that they must become more clinical.

“They scored two goals from maybe three chances today,” the manager said. “In some games we need too many chances to score. We have to be a little more convinced – OK we can score. We have a lot of individual players with individual skills and just go with that. Apart from the first 20 minutes I thought we dominated.”

Having seen the visitors take control of the midfield, Pochettino reacted before the hour by withdrawing ­Daniel Osvaldo and introducing James Ward-Prowse. The move restored balance, plugging the gaps Swansea had been exploiting.

Looking more secure Southampton went in search of the second goal that would kill the game off. It came in the 83rd minute when Boruc launched a long clearance. Jordi Amat and Chico Flores, the two Swansea centre-backs, both tried and failed to clear, and Rodriguez placed the loose ball beyond Michel Vorm.